Hashem Shaabani ≈ seven reasons why i should die

Hashem Shaabani

Hashem Shaabani was executed in an unidentified prison in late January, the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre writes.

He had been sentenced to death in July 2012 by the Ahvaz Islamic Revolutionary Court for muharibih (“waging war on God”), sowing corruption on earth, propaganda against the Islamic Republic and acting against national security, it adds.

Shaabani, a member of the Arabic-speaking Ahvazis ethnic minority, was the founder of an organisation promoting Arabic culture and literature in Iran known as the Dialogue Institute and was popular for his Arabic and Persian poems, Al Jazeera reports.

It adds the 32-year-old often spoke out against the treatment of ethnic Arabs in the province of Khuzestan.

Following is the translation of a poem that Shaabani smuggled out of prison.